HOW TO WRITE BETTER
Published by Dwayne Albert Bearup at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 Dwayne Albert Bearup
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FINDING THE STORY:
WRITING THE STORY:
CHARACTERS:
KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH YOUR CHARACTERS
DIALOG:
EXPOSITION/DESCRIPTION:
WEAVING DESCRIPTION INTO THE NARRATIVE
THE FLASHBACK:
MISCELLANEOUS:
BUILD A SOLID NOVEL FOUNDATION
CONQUERING THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE
POETIC TECHINQUES TO STRENGTHEN PROSE
PONDER THE PLAIN POSITIVES (On keeping it simple)
POINT OF VIEW:
STORY ELEMENTS:
SURPRISES:
REWRITING THE STORY:
THE FOUR STEPS OF MANUSCRIPT C.P.R.
TEN STEPS TO PLANNING YOUR SECOND DRAFT
* * * * *
FINDING THE STORY
BURN AND BUILD
To write fiction from the heart, you’ve got to come up with an explosion of ideas, then sort through the rubble.
Eight methods:
01) Make a list of nouns describing items from your personal past, items which resonate with emotion. Let your mind sort through the mental pictures of your past and quickly write one- or two- word reminders. Then use items from the list to brainstorm possibilities, for characterization or even stories;
02) Find the outrage - list your pet peeves, then pick one and ask yourself what sorts of characters would care about it. Put a character on either side of the issue and let them argue about it;
03) See it - daydream until you sense a sketchy sort of plot, then develop it on paper into a story;
04) Hear it - listen to music that moves you and close your eyes and see what pictures, scenes, or characters develop. Listening to that piece of music will then put you in the writing mood every time you sit down to work on that story;
05) Research - your mind will often synthesize a story out of separate bits of info, connecting plots with sub-plots almost without effort. Read up on things which add data on the topic with which your story is concerned;
06) Write what makes you burn - spend ten minutes immediately after waking following the thoughts that come to you, expanding them, then going on to others;
07) Find your obsession - make a list of what obsesses people, and pick one which fits your story to add depth and meaning to a character. (Ahab’s obsession with the whale, for instance.);
08) Open up - the first line of a story acts as the hook, but it can also suggest a realm of possibilities for expanding the plot or adding sub-plots.
Any one of the above exercises can provide a fount of ideas. Now is the time to let the head take over from the heart. Look at the pieces your creativity has generated, then put them into some sort of pattern.
For each idea, spend time on the following checklist:
01) What sort of lead character does the idea suggest?;
02) What sort of character might oppose the lead? Why?;
03) How can I make these characters fresh, exciting, original?;
04) Is there enough at stake to sustain a novel? Or might this idea work better as a short story?;
05) What plot springs from the characters? (Start with what the lead wants and why s/he can’t have it.);
06) Am I still excited about this story?
FINDING YOUR EMOTIONAL TRUTH
The distressing, difficult aspects of being human are exactly the parts of the story people want to hear. It’s why crowds gather at disasters, and why people read - to vicariously experience other lives and explore the full spectrum of human emotion without risk of true pain.
To write an emotionally true story, ask yourself these questions, and then use the answers to add depth to your characters:
01) What terrifies me?;
02) What disgusts me?;
03) What news stories make me wince or change the channel?;
04) What is my biggest secret?;
05) What would I never do?
WRITING THE STORY
CHARACTERS
CRAFTING CHARACTERS
The fiction writer builds characters in a similar manner to the way people’s lives take shape: in increments.
Five rules to characterization:
01) Character is the most important element in fiction - the strongest story will seem weak if the characters are weakly portrayed;
02) Character is created through specific details - the fiction writer selects details that reveal the greatest possible amount about the minds and bodies of the characters, and which have the greatest possible connection between the characters’ lives and the readers;
03) Details accumulate meaning through the use of periodic and cumulative structures, and through the willingness of the writer to repeat details;
04) The idiosynchratic arrangement of details and the sentence structure in which they are embedded create voice;
05) Voice is everything - the strongest characters and the cleverest plots will be worthless if the reader does not remember the story’s voice.
Every sentence written about a specific character should reveal details about that character. There are two ways of revealing details in sentences:
01) Cumulative sentences - in which a simple sentence is enhanced to reveal details all at one;
02) Periodic sentences - in which a simple sentence is enhanced to reveal details slowly.
A simple sentence consists of a subject, a verb, and an object. A cumulative sentence adds detail to the end of a simple sentence, while a periodic sentence inserts details into the simple sentence.
Examples:
01) Simple: The woman walks through the woods.
02) Cumulative: The woman walks through the woods, her blond hair draping her face as she stumbles between the pines, gasping and holding the stitch in her side.
03) Periodic: The woman, whose blond hair drapes her face, walks in short steps - in fits and starts, stopping occasionally to gasp and hold the stitch in her side - through the woods, the pine sap sticking to her clothes as she rests briefly against a tree.
Which sentence structure you choose will go a long way toward defining the voice of the characters, and ultimately the voice of the story.
ROMANCING YOUR CHARACTERS:
17 steps to creating characters your readers can’t help but fall in love with:
01) Establish reader identification with your characters as close to the opening as possible;
02) Don’t have too many characters - combine the roles and functions of two characters into one;
03) For maximum effect and drama, create sharply contrasting characters;
04) Give readers someone to hate as well as love;
05) Give characters visual traits or tags;
06) Show, don’t tell;
07) Keep dialog in balance with narration and body language;
08) Be original in descriptions - avoid overuse of metaphors and similes;
09) Give each character an extensive history;
10) Let your characters grow, while keeping them in character;
11) Keep all characters true to time period and environment;
12) Keep character names as dissimilar as possible, and make sure the names are appropriate for the time period and geographical location;
13) Always give characters a sense of purpose, even if just to survive;
14) Give characters positive and negative personality traits;
15) Give characters a problem to which readers can relate;
16) Make each character unique, with some quirk which sets them apart from other, similar characters;
17) When you have writer’s block, try writing everything you know about your major characters.
ONCE UPON A CHARACTER:
Rather than telling readers about a character’s quirks and personality traits, showing them allows the reader to participate in the characterization process.
Faultless characters are irritating. And villains with no redeeming qualities stop being human. One of the best ways to create memorable characters is to play against archetypes.
Always create a strong first impression.
Idiosyncrasies of speech can place a character in readers’ minds more firmly than anything.
The essence of a memorable character lies in his ability to rise above his human fears and longings.
KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH YOUR CHARACTERS:
There’s an easy way to keep in touch with your character’s thoughts without using the phrase, “He thought” - just before writing down the thought, have your character perform some kind of physical movement, preferably something to do with the head.
Examples:
01) He nodded, nonplussed. He had heard it all before anyway.;
02) He blinked. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.
The KIT (Keep In Touch) Method can also be used to segue into flashbacks, physical descriptions of characters, and to get into the minds of non-viewpoint characters without leaving the mind of your main viewpoint character.
DESCRIBING CHARACTERS:
As always, weave the description into the narrative. Here are tips on how to do that:
01) Describe distinctive features - generic descriptions tell readers little and sound cliché;
02) When writing in 1st person, don’t rely on the character looking in the mirror for a self-description;
03) Tie your descriptions into your plot by using them to foreshadow events (PERSONAL NOTE: This is most easily done by measuring the length of your descriptions against the importance to the plot of the item or character being described.);
04) Entwine your character descriptions with self-image;
05) Use description to evoke a sense of the broader culture and your character’s place in it;
06) Incorporate a character’s background or ancestry into your description;
07) Use physical description of one character to deepen characterization of a second person.
DIALOG
DYNAMIC DIALOG
It accomplishes at least one of these five goals:
01) Advances the plot;
02) Characterizes your character;
03) Creates suspense and intensifies the conflict;
04) Reveals motivation;
05) Controls the pace.
Watch out for these dialog don’ts that can drag down your fiction:
01) Describing dialog: Don’t rely on excessive verbs and adverbs to do the work that should be done by your characters and their words;
02) Dialog without tension: Don’t let your characters be obvious in their dialog. Keeping something hidden - while letting the reader know there’s something being hidden - builds tension;
03) Don’t repeat in dialog information already given in narrative. As a general rule, to inform the reader or set a foundation for future story events use narrative; reserve dialog for showing conflict, tension, character, or something developing in a relationship.
04) Don’t load your dialog with a lot of information that wouldn’t be part of a normal conversation. Let the speaker speak out of his own need, not that of his listener (who is, in all cases, ultimately the reader of the story.);
05) Don’t use too many direct references in dialog - in real life, we rarely use one another’s names in a discussion.
Story dialog should be more succinct than the way people talk in everyday life. Follow these rules of thumb:
01) When in doubt, cut it out;
02) Don’t have characters call each other by name in dialog, unless it’s for a specific effect, such as a threat, or at the beginning of the scene, as in, “Hey John, haven’t seen you in a while.”
03) Less is more - great emotion can best be shown by few words;
04) Make each piece of dialog three sentences or less, or else break up the speech with a comment from another character, or some action;
05) Don’t hit the nail on the head - it’s often more important to get the meaning right than to be explicit;
06) Give each character a unique voice - don’t let them all sound the same;
07) Read it aloud - some lines which look fine to your eye won’t fool your ear for a second.
STEP UP TO STRONGER DIALOG
Three exercises to pump up your conversation crafting technique:
01) Write a one sided conversation, without adding any thoughts or observations on the speakers thoughts or gestures (and be sure to practice several voices);
02) Eavesdrop on real conversations, then practice writing them. Remember, fiction dialog has to seem real as well as establish context;
03) Find classified ads by both men and women seeking mates, then use them to create an introductory conversation.